August 25th. (Continued from…). I started to walk again
at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder, Georgia. One of my favorite walks is from
the Group Shelter A to the Old Fort and back.This
is a rewarding walk for viewing wildflowers and I’ve This is a rewarding
walk for viewing wildflowers and I’ve been walking it every week and
documenting the wildflowers that I see.
The early spring wildflowers have finished blooming; it’s time to
watch the developing fruit. Summer wildflowers were still blooming but it was
time to turn attention to the fungi in the woods.
In the ‘Rock Garden,’ the Resurrection Fern (Pleopeltis
polypodioides) was still green.
The seed
capsules on the Wild Yam (Dioscorea
villosa) were just beginning to ripen; a couple were starting to turn.
The
fruit on the Eastern Sweetshrub (Calycanthus
floridus) was ripe but still firmly attached to the plant.
A
Broadleaf Ironweed (Vernonia glauca)
plant in bloom. The plant was only a couple of feet tall. In previous years, several
plants have bloomed along this section of the lake. The trees have grown and
are gradually shading these plants out. This was the only one I found this
year.
A
single St. Andrew’s Cross (Hypericum
hypericoides) was still blooming nearby.
The
Rock Garden is a pleasant, shaded area in the heat of summer.
There
was still Snow Fungus (Tremella
fuciformis) on one of the logs between the end of the Rock Garden trail and
the open area below the Old Fort.
I was eagerly looking forward to seeing the Golden Reishi (Ganoderma curtisii) that I’d spotted the
previous week. It had lost the bright colors and now had an overall brown/gray
powdered appearance.
I
walked down to the Swamp Rosemallow (Hibiscus moscheutos).
The seeds appeared to be loose in the seed capsules.
The
rosemallow also had a visitor. A Differential Grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis) was perched rather precariously on the
top of one of the seed capsules.
The
Leatherleaf Clematis (Clematis terniflora)
was still blooming beside the rosemallow.
A
Common Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia)
plant was blooming at the water’s edge.
On
the trail back down to the Fishing Area, I found several fungi…
A
‘spiny’ puffball. This could have been one of several species: Vascellum curtisii, Lycoperdon echinatum or, possibly, L. pulcherrimum. Without being able to examine the same puffball as
it aged, it’s impossible to determine which this was.
A
bolete, with pores on the underside. Boletes can be difficult to identify;
perhaps I’ll try to identify this one next year.
A
Coker’s Amanita (Amanita cokeri);
these would be common in this section of the woods for a few weeks.
On
my way back down the trail, I found Hairy Elephantfoot (Elephantopus tomentosus), and some more…
Pigeonwings
(Clitoria mariana) blooming.
References:
- Mushroom
Observer (Observation by Walt Sturgeon): Ganoderma curtisii
- Mushroom
Expert. Kuo, M. Amanita cokeri
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